My Home

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

This is my third day in a row posting. Wow, I wasn't even trying for every day this time!

The hidden cat has been found. After the housemate brought Perl here to live temporarily, she disappeared. Neither of us could find her. I didn't think much when she didn't come out for me, but when she didn't show up for the housemate, I got concerned. Tonight I found her. When disturbed, she ran to the housemate's bedroom. I put a can of tuna (packed in water) out for her on his recommendation. I figure the tuna water will help if she's dehydrated. I also suggested he move her food and water down to his end of the house. Yes, I want her to come spend time in my lap, but I want her to feel safe first and foremost. She's petrified now. She doesn't have her friends (2 other cats, 3 dogs, 2 teenagers, etc.) here, and it's a strange place.

Bad day at work. I really, really hope that I get scheduled to go out again soon. While in the office I am trying to get my fellow IT folks to rally together and study for the Security+ certification. Not that I personally want it more than any other, but others do. It will count as a test for my MCSE if I end up upgrading my out-dated certs, so it's all good. Hopefully tomorrow I'll start finding resources to study. The boss has expressed that the company will reimburse for the test and maybe class/study materials. I just need to figure out my course, and what will motivate the others to join me and in so doing motivate me to actually finish.

My Dad is having a minor health issue, and Mom has another specialist doctor appointment tomorrow. It's a slow decline for both of them, and not much I can do to help. My Dad is in basically good health, just declining strength at 89 years old. Mom has several chronic health problems, but she can still get around and is also take care of my Dad so far. I just wait for the phone call that says something has happened.

Monday, September 15, 2008

I got stuff done yesterday. My bedroom is back being a bedroom. Clean sheets on the bed, stuff pulled out of the corners, new pillows. The kitchen was clean, it has a few dirty dishes now that I'll clean up tonight. The laundry room floor, which was filthy, is now clean. Ironing done. I don't have to teach every day this week as I did last week. Hopefully I can get some more things done here in the evenings.

There is a borrowed cat here now named Perl. She is residing under the housemate's bed at the moment. He says that it will take her a couple of days to venture out for attention from me. She seems to be a nice, well-fed grey and white cat.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

It is really hitting me this morning how much I have lost my focus on what I want from this life. I lost it awhile ago. The hike has helped reel my attention back in towards what I want, but it is only one step. Ok, many actual steps once I start it, but in the grand scheme of things, it isn't the end product.

For some reason, cruising my blogs this morning I again clicked on one I hadn't read in quite awhile. Don't even remember when or why I clicked it. But something in it reminded me that I used to have an idea, not quite a plan. Since I have been at this job making the 'professional' money again, I haven't been terribly frugal. I didn't need to, I was still paying down the debt and enjoying myself and filling the holes that having no money for a few years had created. The sudden cost of the cat's illness started a domino effect on my finances, and I hadn't pulled in my spending quick enough. There are some repercussions, mostly in a lack of cushion fund right now. Instead of feeling deprived right now, I'm wondering where that pride I used to have with being able to do what I want on a low budget went. Anyone can plop down money. It takes creativity and some skill to go out and do cool things and not spend a lot.

This is also part of the 'when did I check my intellect at the door, and where the heck is that door that I left it?' feelings I'm getting when I read cool stuff and remember that at one time I would have already known that stuff exists. So, now that I have finally woken up again. What's next?

At the moment I'm a bit overwhelmed at how far off track I am. So, I'm at the 'one thing at a time' point. It's a 12-step thing, just keep doing the next right thing. Fly Lady (FlyLady.net, if it still is there) said she once cleaned out an entire room of junk by just dealing with one item a day.

And, I need to balance reading the blogs with actually doing things here in real life that I can write about in my own blog.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

First, a small rant. I went to WhiteBlaze.net, the hiking message board site, and scanned the topics being discuss as I usually do. Someone (who shall remain nameless, although he seems to think his purpose in life is to point out how stupid the rest of us are) said it is 9/11, did no one remember? Some others dutifully started talking about where they were and how it affected them when the buildings went down and neighbors/friends died. That part was interesting. However, apparently not enough folks posted, because there was a refrain in the thread about how it seemed that not many really cared. As if, only by posting on their thread on that message board could someone show any patriotism or remembrance. I read the thread. Yes, I knew what day it was and what happened 7 years ago. I didn't post, though, so I evidently didn't 'care'. Sigh. Guess I'm not one of the cool kids yet again.

Now, for something I read that I found kind of neat. I read various blogs on many different subjects. Sometimes I don't follow all the reasonings through lack of knowledge in that area or lack of caring (politics comes to mind here), but I do find individuals expressing themselves about something they care about usually has something interesting in there somewhere. Tonight I was wondering among some of the blogs that I bookmarked and haven't followed after first finding them. In one blog that has environmental issues as it's theme was a reference to a study done on "structures of participation". The study was done in an art museum, and showed the difference between having information about an exhibit either in text on a wall, audio in private headphones, or delivered via an activated loudspeaker increased or decreased interaction between individuals viewing the exhibit. The first two methods fostered little to no interaction among individuals in front of the exhibit, the last via the loudspeaker fostered longer interactions as the number of people listening increased. I like it that someone cares enough to worry about this type of thing. Actually design an interactive situation to increase involvement among the people involved. What a concept.

On a related note, I REALLY, REALLY need to get back into something, or some things, that make me think, take me beyond my day to day life. This is a really bad week at work. Gotta find something to light my fire mentally to remind me in an on-going manner that the world is truly big, awesome, interesting, and a generally cool place to hang out.

Sunday, September 07, 2008

Sometimes we don't see what is right in front of us. I have been bored, unhappy, jaded. I was cruising my list of blogs that I watch and on Gary's blog at:

http://withinsight.blogspot.com/

He has a video from Ted Talks. It is truly amazing. A link to the video, and the lecturer who gave the talk is here:

http://technorati.com/videos/youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DhVimVzgtD6w

This guy is an amazing lecturer. He has amazing presentation software. I actually enjoyed and was excited about what is usually a dry and uninteresting topic that I would normally only listen to out of guilt. There is cools stuff out there. The world is larger than a boss who hates me, a house that always is messy and needs work, finances that are never quite enough money to feel comfortable about the future. There is cool stuff out there.

Ok, as a computer geek I was way impressed with the visuals. The ability to make the topic exciting was what amazed me. I may end up learning more about our world than I would have before just to listen to this guy and watch his presentations. The site that showcased this lecture is:

http://tedtalks.com/

Edited: I put the link to the entire lecture, I think the first one I listed was only the first third of it. It should be 20 minutes long, worth every minute to watch it in my opinion.

Monday, September 01, 2008

The Universe is working very hard to light a fire under me. I hope that It doesn't take that comment literally... I now have evidence that I can't ignore that I have been invaded by mice. This is what prompted me to go find Bazil 10 or 11 years ago. The mice moved in when there was no cat. Today I will spend mouse-proofing my food and dishes, and the housemate has offered to bring one of his 3 cats, Perl, to live here for now. I like the idea of a borrowed cat. I still have the food and litter and litter box that were left when Bazil died. So, there will be a cat here again. Not sure when he will bring her, maybe latter this week. He says she is 'pushy' about wanting attention. I'm thinking that in a house with 2 teenage boys, 3 dogs and 3 cats she feels like she has to be to get any attention. For my part, I'll be glad to have a cat claim my lap again when I'm on the computer.